Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 26. 1899 Ourselves.

Manawatu Herald, 26 August 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. SATURDAY, AUGUST 26. 1899 Ourselves.

With this issue we complete the twenty-first year of the publication of the Manawatu Herald. To those who can look back at the position of this district twenty-one years ago and can recall the varying phases of good and bad times it is a matter which the town of Foxton can congratulate- itself upon that its representative organ has succeeded not only in retaining the position its founders devised for it, but that it has gone far beyond it. The Manawatu Herald was first issued on the 27th August, 1878, by Messrs George and John Russell, two gentlemen who have never left the path of journalism for any time. After running the paper in partnership for many years Mr George Russell sold out to his brother, and purchased the Manawatu Daily Times, and in 1889 Mr John Russell sold the paper to its present proprietor, and after a brief interlude for flaxmilling he again resumed the burden of journalism, and now ably conducts the Manawatu Daily Time*, his brother George having gone" South and now publishes a paper there. That the Herald should have been kept so much in the hands of one family proves the soundness of the position that it has gained owing to the manner in which it has always worked for the true benefit of the district and for that which is right. This

policy has been pursued by the presen' >roprietor to the best of his ability md he, like his predecessors, ha: ound the public appreciate manlines.' md straightforwardness even wher he paper has, for a time, come v. inflict with the opinions some of it: . nppbrters have entertained. As Wv. .aye done in the past so we purpose ■' continue in the future, and as w •ye investod the whole of our ierests in the town and district ou vuders can be assured our advocac ■f any question is guided by the bel;: •3 hold as to how it may advantage ue district as a whole. The Manawatu Herald was first published bi-weekly and sold at threepence, and this remained in force until the present proprietor secured the paper when in September, 1890, he changed the issue into a tri-weekly one, and charged twopence, thus giving the subscribers one third more reading matter for the same subscription. We remember, it being then the eve of a general election, that one candidate was unkind enough- to say that the increased issue was only made tor election time and to catch the advertisements of the candidates. Time has proved that such suspicious remarks were quite unfounded as there never was any such intention and the paper has ever since then been issued tri weekly. This is a happy illustration of the mistaken views held by persons unacquainted with newspaper management, and were such views acted upon by the proprietor of a newspaper it is safe to say he would never record the completion of twentyone years of publication. It has been the aim of the proprietor to meet the support he has received in every way, and on the 4th of January, 1898, he further reduced the price of the paper to one "penny, and also added four columns to the size of it. In conclusion we beg to thank all who have accorded us support in the past, support, which while thankfully acknowledging, we claim we have done our best to respond to. Without the support of the inhabitants a paper, however ably edited, cannot live, and advertisements are as much a necessity to a paper as is air to plant life. We desire to wish our readers very many happy returns of the day, and that as each year goes by the friendship existing between readers, advertisers and the proprietor may be further cemented by mutual esteem and confidence.